Karlie Robinson

TEDxRochester 2010 - Bridging the Digital Divide

2010-11-27T14:35:00.000-05:00

It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. ~Mark Twain

Truer words were never spoken! It took me longer to put together the 6 minute slide deck for TEDxRochester than it did to prepare for any of the other talks I gave in 2010.

The good news is that it did get done and I think the presentation went off without a hitch. I also promised the slides would become available in the Fedora Project wiki in case you'd like to give an encore performance or build it into something bigger and better.

In the TED tradition, the presentations are also available for viewing in case you couldn't make the event.

Help Wanted - Fortune Hunter Math Adventure

2010-10-18T10:05:00.004-04:00

Late last week I had the opportunity to check in with RIT to see how student projects were coming along. To my surprise, the Fortune Hunter team has plans to push out a release by the end of the year. But to do that, they recognize that they need to push development beyond the borders of RIT and actively recruit from the FOSS community as a whole.

First, I should say that Fortune Hunter is a dungeon scenario role playing game where players navigate a series of rooms, collect items and battle various creatures by solving math problems.

Though I'd have to say that one of my favorite concepts in the game is the shop. The idea is that if the player wants to barter for special items they must deal with the shopkeeper in a realistic manner. Offer too little money and you'll get snubbed. Offer too much and the shopkeeper will gladly take the money and use it against you later on.

So what does the Fortune Hunter team need? Truthfully they need Artists and Pythonistas who can elevate the code quality. Jon writes -

What would actually be extremely helpful would be some programmers. Currently, the team is lacking any experts in that realm and to be honest, they would probably save us a whole lot of time and help us progress much further to push and get more done.

Jon compiled a short list of needs and promised that there would be more organization to the project to help new contributors and the project reach it's release goal.

If you, or someone you know could help get this release out, please don't hesitate to contact Jon and the team. You can get details in the Fortune Hunter wiki and you can get copies of the game in the GIT repo if you'd like to test the game and Fortune Maker engine.

Image - Fortune Hunter Logo from the SugarLabs.org wiki

Gearing up for FSOSS

2010-10-07T08:48:00.000-04:00

This morning I received my speakers packet for the Free Software and Open Source Symposium taking place at Seneca College in Toronto in a couple of weeks.

For those of you feeling the vacuum that the Ontario GNU/Linux Fest left, this might be a good alternative for you.

Just be aware that early-bird registration ends October 8 and it's a significant discount. Especially for Students!

As far as the feel of the two conferences.... I won't pretend that OGLF and FSOSS occupied the same niche, because they always catered to a slightly diffrent audiences. OGLF was more of a user conference and FSOSS is geared at academic use and leading edge development.

That's not to say that all the topics covered at Seneca are advanced, or that topics at OGLF didn't meet the needs of hard-core hackers. It's just that the topics are focused on a slightly different area of the spectrum that is Open Source.

In any case, if you're looking for a nice little conference in a great city, I'd highly recommend registering for FSOSS.

Guest Lecture This Morning at RIT

2010-09-14T08:49:00.000-04:00

In just a little while I'll be heading over to RIT to give a short talk on FOSS Community Collaborations.

For those who are interested in the slide deck, I've uploaded them to the Fedora Wiki.

As you can see from this picture it has girl-y goodness through out. Why so girl-y for this talk? It has nothing to do with the topic. It's not from a girl point of view, or for any other psychological reason. I just liked it and never use the same background twice. Each presentation is Unique. So watch for the next upload for something new to look at.

List of embedded links are below for ease of clicking. And feel free to leave comments below if you have questions about the presentation.

~Karlie

Visual Collaboration

IRC

On Failure

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100823162322.htm

On general community Etiquette

http://theopensourceway.org/book/The_Open_Source_Way-How_to_tell_if_a_FLOSS_project_is_doomed_to_FAIL.html

Slide Background image -
“Colorful flowers” by Martine Lemmens

Kicking off the Fall Quarter at RIT

2010-09-07T16:53:00.000-04:00

This morning I was able to attend the first session of RIT's Humanitarian FOSS class.

As some of you know, the class has been running since Spring of 2009, but this time around it seemed like a much better start than we've had over the previous quarters the class is run.

While I'd like to point you to the one thing that has me feeling more positive about the course, the truth is, there isn't one thing.

Instead, it's lots of little things that have morphed into what looks like it's going to be a well oiled machine. Of course I know that won't be the case because there will be things to work on no matter how well the class goes.

But still, I walked away feeling really positive and energized about this quarters syllabus and the students in the class. I'm really psyched about the newly regrouped Pythonistas and Rochester OLPC user group being combined to better support the class.

Next Tuesday I'll be giving a short guest lecture on FOSS Community mores. It will cover some basics like using IRC and what we feel is effective communication. I've also been asked to work "How to tell if a FLOSS project is doomed to FAIL" into the slides as well.

I'll post my slides when I get them done, so watch for those on the TOS wiki.

~Karlie

Positioning Yourself as a FOSS Service Provider

2010-07-21T12:05:00.010-04:00

In my previous posts, (1, 2) I've been talking about why Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMB) need Linux and Open Source solutions. I've also talked about Open Source industries. But what we haven't covered is getting in the game.

While I could go high tech here or dazzle you with business terms, the truth is, going into business only requires that you understand the ground rules.

Think of it in terms of poker or any other game. Yes, it might take you a while to develop the skills you need to be really good at the game, but one of the most important steps is learning the rules and understanding what makes for a winning hand.

No matter how unique your method of doing business, or your business model, you will need to pick up the basic skills and techniques. But just because you may not have a full tool kit at the outset doesn't mean you can't get started. Especially if you surround yourself with people who have the strengths you need.

The really good news is that you can get the basics lots of places. There are countless business resources online and many in your local community. If you're in the United States, SCORE offers free business counseling and low cost workshops and the SBA sponsors Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) where you can also get free counseling and learn the basics of writing a business plan, accounting best practices and other essential skills.

Where you'll find it getting tricky is getting past the no-cost mindset when you, and your clientele, begin thinking about free software solutions. I can tell you that the early years of my FOSS business were rough until I figured out how to properly position ourselves in the market place.

Our business model needed to be tweaked more than once to be sure our potential customers could see the value in doing business with us. In some cases we raised our prices, others we lowered them. In some instances we dove into the marketing plan, hammering out little details and studying our customers.

As I have branched out and helped other FOSS projects think about their positioning I've found the biggest issue is marketing messaging. You see, it isn't about what they wanted to say about their latest and greatest update, but about what the customer needs to hear.

While that statement could be interpreted as the sort of thing con-artists do, it's not about trickery, but about point of view.

Think about it this way... What are the key things high level geeks think about when it comes to setting up a new computer? Processor speeds, RAM, Kernel version, getting the proper video drivers and all those other spec sheet gems.

Now think about what a business owner wants to know. They want to know how much it's going to cost. Is there going to be any down time? Will their employees adopt the new tech and use it effectively? Who'll be able to solve any problems that may arise? Why should they trust that a free download isn't going to be a lemon? If it's so great, why is it free?

My best advice, DON'T Underestimate the importance of re-programming your thinking so that you can step away from the for-geeks-by-geeks FLOSS marketing that you're use to seeing. If needed, find someone familiar with FOSS and SMB speak to translate for you.

The reality is that the barriers to starting a successful business aren't that big if you've got the right mindset going in. Again, a good team of advisers can help you overcome any portion of the business process that you have questions about. The rest comes down to your skills and ability to get the job done to your client's satisfaction.

We've got a winner by Dimitri Castrique

Re: Have you seen this?

2010-07-11T11:30:00.004-04:00

On 07/10/2010 09:54 PM, D. S. wrote:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=microsoft-imagine-cup

No I hadn't seen it yet, but MS is losing ground to companies like Google and their "Don't be Evil" stance on business. So how does a company become less evil? They start finding projects for the good of the order and shout it from the rooftops every time they do something that's even a little bit generous.

It's actually very cleaver of them from a marketing point of view. They know that they still have market and mind share and while the majority of their clientele isn't looking at FOSS, they're adopting some FOSS like programs to soften up their image.

The biggest thing to consider is the basics of business. Throwing money at a problem isn't usually an effective solution. Yes, MS has lots and lots of money to solve problems with, but FOSS has enough momentum now that no matter what MS does they can't regain the ground they've lost. Their only hope is to slow the exodus now that there is a public awareness of alternatives and that the choices aren't half bad.

My best advice - remember there is choice. When things like this come up, remind people that the HFOSS project has been doing this same thing for a while now. When MS wants to talk Education, bring up OLPC and such. Yes, it's good that they're putting money to good use, but they didn't invent some of these ideas, nor are they the only players on the field.

It no longer has to be about how FOSS is like commercial, but it can be about how commercial has to be like FOSS and behave like human beings to remain relevant in the changing tech environment.

~Karlie

The Business of Linux - Series Start

2010-07-05T09:06:00.007-04:00

It's become quite clear to me that I'll never fit all I want or need to say about the business of Linux in my LinuxCon talk. In fact I could make it a full day workshop and still not cover everything there is to know about making money on products your customers can get for free.

The solution is to begin evaluating what information really needs to be in the presentation and what would be better here. In some cases I've begun shucking slides from the deck and for others I've decided that there needs to be a better explanation of what I'm trying to cram into my allotted time.

With today's post I'm going to start addressing some of the topics that could use a little more depth than what time will allow. I also hope that by exploring the topics here I'll have a better grasp on what is most important to convey when I stand at the front of the room next month. ~Karlie

Midmarket Companies are the Key

Less than a month ago, eWeek published an article titled "Midmarket Companies Steady on PC Purchases, Report Finds."

This article is based on The NPD Group’s Small and Medium size Businesses (SMB) Technology Report.

As you can guess from the name, the midmarket is made of up of companies who sit right between Mom-n-Pop operations and big businesses. They're generally smaller than 500 employees and actually make up most of the US economy.

The first bullet on the slide above is fairly easy to understand - Buying is going up this year. While that's good news, it's the next two that set my heart all a flutter. They show me some really good numbers - Let me explain.

The biggest reason I'm in a very good mood following this report is that the percentages give me a starting point for basing a financial model off of.

Yes, 40% is less than half, and on first look can seem sort of dismal. The thing we need to understand is how big that 40% could really be.

According to the US Census Bureau, there are nearly 5 million businesses with 499 or fewer employees. So if we do a little math, 40% comes out to be approximately 2 Million potential clients. It could be even more if you set your pool to include business with over 500 employees.

We also need to factor in that the estimated market share for Linux is just about 1%. If we assume the market share is the same with SMBs, we're looking at about 20,000 firms to get your feet wet with.

I'd also go out on a limb and suggest that if SMBs began adopting FOSS technologies that 1% market share for Linux would rise rapidly. How far? I don't know exactly, but for every percentage point it jumps you'd be looking at another 20k or so in your national customer pool.

The lesson here is not to get hung up on what constitutes big or small in the business world, or even take a percentage at face value until you understand what those numbers actually represent.

20-Thousand businesses may not seem like that many either, but could you handle that many clients? Probably not while you're just starting out, so 20k is really a fairly large number for you to grow into... Especially if you can grow the Linux adoption rates while you're at it.

The Rule of Two

2010-06-25T08:01:00.009-04:00

I was following a thread this morning on the TeachingOpenSource.org Mailing list about using Scribd for source materials.

Five messages in, there's a reply that sends up a red flag for me.

This is the second time hearing a story that's so similar that it can't be considered a coincidence.

I've mentioned my "Rule of Two" theory of customer/community relations before. It states...

If one person comments, take note but use your best judgment on how seriously to take it. If a second person tells you almost the exact same thing, there's no guessing, you've got trend.

While I would hope that the trend isn't larger than the two accounts, there's no way to ignore the fact that Adam's email echos what another developer said to me just a few months ago while standing in my kitchen drinking beers with my husband.

The trend conveyed by both guys is that there is a tendency for Fedora/Red Hat people to start from scratch rather than start with the finishing touches.

This worries me not because two guys might be feeling frustrated, but that these guys work with different parts of the FP.o/RH organization and have similar stories. I'm also a bit concerned because I'm not up on day to day operations yet I know of two cases.

That leaves me wondering... Who else might be feeling the same way? Is there something about the project culture that encourages people to avoid collaboration outside of the project core? Is it that there are so many resource available that the practice of external collaboration is rusty? Or maybe just the communication conduit between internal and external projects needs a look. (as in - this is why we decided not to collaborate, or this is why I want to collaborate with you)

I'm also a plan-for-the-worst-hope-for-the-best kind of girl and at the moment am thinking not just about the missed opportunities to collaborate on solutions that meet everyone's needs, but also about letting these concerns grow to become community rifts and/or future barriers to collaboration. You can't please everyone all the time, but I'm looking the future potential for this to get out of hand.

I can't pretend I know the answers to any of the above. Just that the Rule of Two is in effect and the powers that be need to give a little time to address the break down.

Working together 3 by Mark Robinson

Week 1, Pontiac MI

2010-06-21T08:46:00.006-04:00

One harsh reality of On-Disk.com is that while ISOs are fresh, business is booming. But, 3 months after a release, those who wanted the latest and greatest the Linux world has to offer probably have it. Then after about 4 months, those who haven't gotten it will most likely wait a couple of months and get the next release.

This August, however, I will be giving a talk at LinuxCon. Yes, it's going to be a fun time in a great city, but by then it's past the 4 month mark and we won't have lots of extra money to spend on the trip.

A solution to our slow summer months presented itself this year with some casual employment as a corporate trainer with Eagle Productivity Solutions.

While I knew I'd be jetting off to some US City to deliver the training, I didn't expect;

for my first week on the road that I'd be in Pontiac MI.
that a very recent Twitter follower would be on the Michigan!/usr/group board.
the MUG meeting would fall on my off night between my two training sessions.
to talk a few minutes about my role as a community hacker.

I didn't have anything prepared, in fact, I can confidently say I was the only person in the room who opted to pack a lipstick rather than a laptop.

The talk was very casual. A bit about how I got into FOSS, and how someone who avoids the terminal window at all cost could be qualified to give a talk to hard core Unix and Linux users.

But I think I got my point across. That point of course being that the community is key. Using is one thing, but involvement is a whole other ball of wax.

I suppose the most important thing that came out of the talk was a question from a member asking "how do you/I/we get involved?"

My answer was to take these notions that someone should do something - about anything really - and take 10 seconds to seriously consider being that someone. No one would hold their feet to the fire if they opted out of helping, but if they cold get into the habit of weighing the pros and cons of involvement, they might find something to become passionate about.

There are a lot of needs and a lot of really good projects out there that do so much more than pump out fresh ISOs. The best part is that at this point it's not just grand ideas. There are functioning groups out there so I did talk a little about TeachingOpenSource.org and the Math4 project class that has spawned FOSS@RIT and the chain of events that those projects lead to.

Most importantly, I tried to show how little ideas and passionate people help bring FOSS out to those who can benefit from open code.

Why was it me?

2010-04-24T12:08:00.005-04:00

Before you get the wrong idea, I'm not having a pity party here in my blog. Instead, "Why me?" is sort of the basis for a series of rhetorical questions I've been processing this morning.

This morning I received an email saying that John Resig, creator of JQuery is going to visit RIT this week. I'm excited to meet him and am sure that our FOSS mixer Thursday evening in the Innovations center is going to have a nice mix of people. (Visit the Facebook Event for details)

The other thing the email reminded reminded me of is a trend I've been seeing in little bits and pieces over the past year or so... That RIT has some very talented alumni that have gone on to be leaders in the FOSS Community.

So the question I'm struggling with this morning, is why me? Why didn't the ball get rolling for RIT to Teach Open Source Development techniques until I helped push it? I don't doubt that RIT would have formalized it's FOSS development coursework at some point, but why did the push have to come from me when there could have been so many others leading the charge?

People who not only had more clout in the FOSS community, but connections at RIT.

To clarify, I'm not a student at RIT. I'm not on staff at RIT. The FOSS community isn't waiting with baited breath to hear what I might say next, so, again, why was my participation a key component?

Question Mark Icon by Svilen Milev

Dinner with RMS - the Great Freedom Debate

2010-02-25T11:49:00.001-05:00

I was lucky enough to be invited to join Steve Jacobs and Richard Stallman for dinner, Tuesday night. If I said I was honored to be included that would be an understatement.

But what does one talk about with the father of the Free Software Movement?

Freedom of course!

While this post will read as if we had a long and fruitful debate, the truth is I changed the subject when I realized that he was unbending and not willing to accept any observations other than his own. So my observation that there is a hypocritical element to his position was getting nowhere fast.

Steve tried to interject for clarification since we were discussing such a small nuance to "freedom" but even that was met with inflexibility. In fact he repeated his wording exactly as he had before Steve's question.

Here's the issue as I see it...

Freedom is an inalienable right. I also believe wholeheartedly that if you have a restriction of any kind you don't have true freedom.

I also understand that true freedom is rare and elusive. Laws, taxes, social mores and such are all limiting factors. You can have some freedoms, like the freedom of speech, but I also don't believe the US is a Free country when there are so many questionable laws still on the books (yes, Patriot act, I'm talking about you and your sleezy friends!)

You should also understand that I'm all for of some laws and mores. For instance, when we all know what side of the street to drive on, its good for everyone. You would also misunderstand this blog post if you come away thinking that I dislike the GPL and/or the Free Software Movement. The fact is I'm a fan and have deep respect for the movement as a whole.

However, my side of the debate focused on copyleft, and the GPLs Share Alike clauses and Stallman's penchant for term correctness.

As I see it, if you're going to explain to a crowded room that you can't...

... call something piracy because it didn't attack any boats;
... use the term "Intellectual Property" because it refers to multiple laws;
... call an Operating system Linux because the Linux Kernel wasn't fully effective without the rest of the GNU operating system and vice versa...

Then you must absolutely be certain that you're not acting hypocritically when it comes to the use of the term "Freedom."

For me, the question is, how can software really be "free, as in Freedom" when there are restrictions built into it's license?

Stallman's stance is that he respects your freedom, but in return you must respect the freedom of others. Then he explained that share alike/copyleft clauses needed to be included because he didn't want to lose ground. To open up a code base only to have it taken away again isn't an acceptable situation.

I say that's a risk you have to take if you're going to insist that what you're trying to do is make all software free.

Freedom always comes with a choice. When you have good information and care about the outcomes, you always make the right decision for you. Besides, if information or desired outcomes change, you always have the option to make new choices.

So if you're to ask for a simple clarification - the Four Essential Freedoms outlined in the Free Software definition do define freedom. However this Free software definition points out that there's a flaw in copyleft when it states,

"For example, copyleft (very simply stated) is the rule that when redistributing the program, you cannot add restrictions to deny other people the central freedoms. This rule does not conflict with the central freedoms; rather it protects them."

It's cleverly written and on quick glance you think "oh it's about not adding restrictions, that's Kosher." But it brings you back to reality when you see that it's a rule (aka restriction) that needs to be clarified in the second sentence of the quote.

Conflict or not, rules are restrictions and restrictions limit freedom.

Am I the only one seeing this as wordplay and a form of restricting Freedom?

~Karlie

Image "Freedom" By ivan petrov

Richard Stallman and Free Software at RIT

2010-02-24T11:02:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, RIT hosted Richard Stallman and I have to say it was not nearly as odd as I had set myself up for.

The main issue is that RMS's reputation as a bit of an eccentric precedes him and that can be a bit of a turn off even for those of us who are somewhat familiar with the whole idea of freedom in computing.

Though to be fair to those who are thinking - "Not odd, then why is that the only picture you have of him?" The image you're seeing here is the Emacs Saint costume that was brought out at the end.

There was video taken of the event and I'm tracking down when and where it will be made available for everyone to see.

For me the best part of the talk was that there seemed to be a fairly diverse crowd. Those, like myself, who are already familar with the ideas of GNU and Libre software and those who were brand new to the ideas presented.

He even covered all the goodies like students getting access to low/no cost Proprietary software. Because it's like your first hit of crack being free and making you pay once you're hooked.

All in all it was a very good talk and I'm sure it hit home with many of the students and staff in attendance. I also hope that it will be the begining of even more free software development and usage at RIT.

Since my son will be home from school shortly and I have an errand to run this afternoon, I'll talk a little bit about my dinner with Stallman in a Part 2 post.

~Karlie

Public Software Rides Again? - Maybe

2010-02-04T10:51:00.005-05:00

A couple of years ago, Todd and I started a little side project called the Public Software Foundation. But like lots of good intentions, it didn't quite make it off the ground.

It's not that we didn't give it our all, we just couldn't sustain an altruistic side project as the economy was beginning to tank. After all, there are little men with big appetites around here.

A few days ago I was being my normal busy body self and butted into an IRC conversation on #TeachingOpenSource and ended up blabbering about PSF even though the site had been down for who knows how long.

Well it's back up now due to that initial conversation and I'm wondering what you think about a project like the Public Software Foundation?

I'd appreciate it if you'd take a look around and give me your feedback.

~Karlie

It's official - Stallman @RIT Feb 23

2010-01-29T08:23:00.004-05:00

The good news - It's official - RMS will be at RIT on Tuesday, February 23 from 10:30-12:30 am.

"Richard Stallman will speak about the goals and philosophy of the Free Software Movement, and the status and history of the GNU operating system, which in combination with the kernel Linux (sic) is now used by tens of millions of users world-wide."

Click on the image to the right to see a larger version. You can also download a PDF version of the flier.

The bad news - his talk will be in the Innovations Center and it's going to fill to capacity before 200 people get in the door.

I asked and was told that they will be setting up video in other rooms, but I'm going to suggest you contact RIT and ask them to find a bigger space and/or stream the talk live.

I would also suggest that you not let the space limitations and time of day stop you from making plans to attend or prevent you tweeting, forwarding, etc to anyone you think might want to attend.

~Karlie

Project updates at RIT

2010-01-22T11:58:00.004-05:00

I made it to class last night and lucky for me, I was able to catch some project updates.

They all seem to be coming along and are starting to get in the groove. Though I still had to remind them that while everyone loves how well RIT does a wiki page, they still need to put themselves out there a bit more. Although I didn't see it until this morning, there was a mailing list post and a reply before we left class. (More please!)

We also showed his video.

I first saw it when Greg DeKoenigsberg posted it on Facebook, and was instantly taken with it and suggested it be shown in class. It's such a great way to show the development process. It's humble beginnings, contributors fading away and explosive growth when they switched from CVS to GIT repos.

It's sort of a crash course in FOSS community and project development. It showed in a little less than 4 minutes what I've been struggling to articulate in the past 3 quarters I've helped with the course.

Project proposals at RIT

2009-12-16T14:39:00.002-05:00

The third quarter of RIT's Open Source Development class made their project pitches last night. As each one was made, there I was poo-pooing all the ideas.

It's not that the ideas weren't good, on the contrary, some were shockingly well thought out and could be the start of some very great projects. It's just that my critiques, while trying to be helpful seemed to be continually negative in nature.

Regardless of how I came across, I was trying to give direction and allow the students to think a little further into development process while there's still time to work out who's working with whom and on what.

So besides pointing out that snowball fights might not go over well with children living in tropical climates and war, fighting, and demons can be very inappropriate in some cultures, we also had some good conversations about where to focus their energy right now.

The first focus is Research. What's already out there? Is there anything similar being done?

The second, which ties into the research is my new favorite phrase "Begin with the finishing touches." Is there anything "close enough" to what you want to do? If two or more components were coded together, would that get you to your goal faster?

The vibe I got last night was that the kids might still be transitioning their thinking about what's appropriate to copy and build upon. After all, one of the things that makes this class unique is the whole plagiarism aspect. While we can't disregard licenses and copyright completely, there's a whole slew of great code out there just waiting for someone to modify.

It will be interesting to see what the kids end up working on. I'll keep you updated on the progress.

~Karlie

FUDCon Toronto Follow-up. Day 1

2009-12-07T08:29:00.016-05:00

Like a lot of this year's FUDCon participants, I haven't been writing much. Heck, I didn't get more than a couple of dents and tweets out, but that's ok because we were face to face for a change.

We got started Saturday morning at Seneca@York with an unconfrence/barcamp style pitches.

Right after lunch, Remy DeCausemaker and I did a joint presentation covering the class we're involved with at RIT.

I kicked things off with the presentation (download) I did for the Ontario GNU Linux Fest a few weeks ago. I didn't quite fill the 50 minutes at OGLF, and I managed to whip through all of them in about 20 minutes on Saturday.

Then Remy brought us up to speed on how he got involved with the class and how his new position as a fellow at RIT fits with his ongoing work with organizations such as the Sunlight Foundation.

We then tag-teamed questions from the group. Everything from gaining a foothold in universities, to the kids getting excused from class on Tuesday if they attend Remy's upcoming Hack-a-thon.

The rest of the day was full of Fedora goodness and most of the presentations, Including Paul Frields' keynote should find their way to the Fedora wiki.

After the keynote, we all made our way to Dave and Buster's. I had never heard of the place, but I liked it. If you haven't been, it reminded me of a grown-ups Chuck E Cheese.

On my way back to my hotel, I was passed by a police car... Then an emergency truck, then a fire truck... "Must be an accident somewhere" I mused to myself.

However, all 3 turn on Wilson Ave... in the direction of my hotel.

Why yes, there was a fire truck parked in the driveway when I arrived moments later.

It was only a dryer fire and I was able to get into my room about 30 minutes later.

I'll cover Sunday's hack fests in my next post so look for day 2 soon.

~Karlie

NYSCATE 2009 - Bringing Open Source to Education

2009-11-24T13:11:00.011-05:00

NYSCATE 2009 was, in my opinion, a big success. At least as far as short notice, first-time-out, events go.

We had lots of SWAG, thanks to everyone's help. Even some more last minute Fedora SWAG by way of Charles Proffitt. And I would be remiss if I didn't thank Mike Lee. Not sure why I didn't mention him in the last post, but he did send some print collateral ideas. It was his email that gave me the graphical layout for the Sugar Spin discs we printed and burned for the booth.

So Mike, and Chas - Thank you again.

Now as far as the action in the booth, Monday was a much busier day than Tuesday. We gave out lots of Sugar Spins and lots of openSUSE Edu Li-F-E discs.

Of course the topic of Sugar on a Stick, getting involved, Freedom and free downloads were covered over and over again. All good stuff and I don't think explaining it ever gets old for me. In fact, when I left at 2:30 on Tuesday, my voice was hoarse.

The OLPC XO-1 laptops were such a big hit and I knew they would be. After all, when you have educators, and an education tool, what would you expect?

One thing I didn't expect was that about 10% of the booth visitors thought it was a toy and/or hadn't heard of OLPC. So it's a good thing they stopped by so we could introduce the possibility of truly open and interactive learning.

On the other hand, those who were familiar (having at least heard of OLPC), only a few had ever seen one in person.

The very few folks I spoke with who knew lots about OLPC commented that they still weren't sure how to introduce the learning environment into their schools or lessons.

Almost no one knew about Sugar on a Stick as an inexpensive alternative to an XO deployment. (and yes, I'll give them that one, as SoaS is still a fairly new concept)

In contrast, almost everyone I spoke to at Ontario GNU Linux Fest knew of OLPC and seen an XO in person.

I don't know about you, but I'm seeing a big red flag here.

We should all be wondering why this knowledge gap between FOSS and Edu has formed. Is it because bunch of geeks, hell-bent of freedom and open communications are avoiding local conversations about topics that would have a positive effect on the children in their community?

I might be wrong, but that may be more than a rhetorical question.

In my opinion, by staying in our own geek community, no matter how international that may be, and rarely taking FOSS into the local community it seems we're being counter productive. I'm not sure if it's fear of being too geeky for the average citizen, or what. Regardless of the reasons, I'm now seeing that it's an area that should be addressed.

Now to get off my soap box and walk the walk, here are two examples of how I'm trying to bridge gaps locally.

First I offered to help a rural school district in Wayne County NY hold an install fest. I've even gone so far as to say I'd help find computers to install Linux and FOSS applications on. Why? Because the 2 teachers I met with casually mentioned that they have children without access to basic word processing at home. (Lucky for me, Chas Proffitt is also the meeting coordinator for the LUG of Rochester and we had a chance to talk about volunteers from the LUG to help should this get rolling)

How big of an impact could we have by installing Linux on a few "EOL" computers? I don't know yet, but the digital divide doesn't need to exist when Puppy Linux and other light/fast Linux distros can bring 10 year old computers back to life.

Second, and high on my list, is the opportunity to reproduce the RIT class at a local Catholic High School. The school's Director of Technology told me he bought an XO through Give one Get one, but hasn't seen too much excitement in the school yet. He also told me there's a desire to do more computer science type classes. Can you see how I was starting to get excited as we spoke? I love it when two problems can be addressed with a single solution.

And yes, of course I'll post an update if there is more to report as a result of my time at NYSCATE.

That's all for now,
~Karlie

Stuff We All Get

2009-11-22T08:39:00.009-05:00

SWAG, as it's also known, is the story for me this week and it's been one of those good news, bad news kind of situations.

The good news -- Tuesday morning I received an email from Steve Jacobs saying he's been granted a booth at NYSCATE 2009 and asking for SWAG and Volunteers.

It's a big opportunity to show NY State Educators the monstrous amounts of work being done at RIT with OLPC, SugarLabs.org, the Fedora Project, and TeachingOpenSource.org. Especially since we won't be "preaching to the choir."

Now don't get me wrong, I love FOSS conferences, and I know there are lots of like minded people who want the scoop on what we've been up to. It's just that there's something special about giving free software to someone who isn't all that familiar with what we do.

The bad news -- I had 5 days to scrounge up enough SWAG for our booth. If you consider shipping times, then yes, the phrase "oh crap!" would be appropriate.

So at this point I need to thank the flowing people for going above and beyond and getting boxes of goodies in the mail, simply because I asked.

Brian Powell and his sweet wife for sending Fedora pens, conversation stickers and Tattoos
Chris Neves for sending Fedora 11 discs, "Powered by Fedora" stickers, buttons and Tattoos.
Adam Holt and SJ Klein for sending OLPC postcards.
Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier for giving me permission to use the Free openSUSE 11.1 Quick Ship discs we had on hand and for suggesting openSUSE Edu Li-f-e disc for our booth.

I also need to give special thanks to my dear sweet husband, Todd, for spending his Saturday making openSUSE Edu Li-f-e and Sugar spins for us.

I do have to correct the fabulous Mel Chua when she said -- "Short version: Karlie is Magical."

No, Mel, the community is Magical. Without their quick action, we'd have a very poor presence at NYSCATE.